Van Dien's Nudist Turn

"They've spent a lot on wardrobe for everybody except for me, because I'm pretty much naked throughout the entire show," jokes Van Dien of his role as former Navy pilot Chandler Williams on the new NBC series (debuting Oct. 4, 8 pm/ET). "I'm the nudist of the show, except for when I'm wearing a uniform — but those only stay on for a short period of time."

Van Dien, who played the title role in 1998's Tarzan and the Lost City, knows a thing or two about baring his chest for the camera. "I wore a loin cloth that was really big in the front but really short on the sides," he tells the TV Guide Channel. "So, I'm used to wearing nothing."

Titans viewers no doubt will need a scorecard to keep track of Chandler's roller coaster love life in the new over-the-top drama. For starters, his latest flame (played by Yasmine Bleeth) becomes his stepmother in the series premiere. "My former lover is now going to be my new mom, who might be the mother of my child, who'd be the stepmother to my sisters and brothers," explains Van Dien, "only I'm adopted, so they're not really my brothers and sisters, but maybe they are because there might be some other things that might have happened. I don't even know if I can really quite keep up with it, they just keep throwing so many different loops and there's a lot of things that go on with it."

Van Dien teases that romantic sparks could fly someday between his character and his adoptive mother (Victoria Principal) and sisters (Elizabeth Bogush and Josie Davis). "We'll see what happens there," he says. "I really don't see it going that way, but you never know in these shows. If it's really funny, maybe they really will." — Rich Brown